Beast and Red are brothers who were surrendered by their elderly owner after they kept escaping from their dilapidated fence. They are shy because they never spent time around people other than their former owner, but they are gradually warming up to people — with the help of Sonic burgers! According to the Animal Control Officer and volunteers, they are allowing him to touch them and are starting to become playful, happy dogs again. Now they just need a good human who will love them in spite of their special socialization needs. They are great dogs. They just need to learn to trust people.

When they first came in, they hid behind their food bowls and wouldn’t let anyone touch them. As you can see from the last picture, Red is finally ready to play. Beast came out of his kennel yesterday and let a volunteer kiss his nose! They are shy, but they are learning that people aren’t so bad. They need special care, but they will be super dogs as long as they are treated gently and lovingly.

I’ve always loved this picture of Stryker. He was only a few months old and had just gotten settled into my apartment in Oxford, MS. I only had two windows in my apartment: the one he was looking out of, which was actually a French door, and my bedroom window. He liked watching birds at the door.

This picture is still posted at our local vet’s office. Our vet “Uncle” Dr. Bob found Stryker for me. He was part of an abandoned litter, and Dr. Bob knew Christabelle wanted a little brother or sister. All of her potential siblings had fallen through, except for Stryker, and to this day, they are an utterly devoted pair.

Note the green mouse. Stryker enjoyed marching his mice under the stove, and once he hopped up on his back legs and looked like he saluted them before he batted the last one under the stove. From that point onward, I called him General Mouser, and he was leading his catnip troops.

I was disappointed that there weren’t more kitties at BlogPaws. Teri from Curlz and Swirlz brought Coco, Brighton and Disco, and another blogger brought her three Sphinxes who also dress up. Besides those six, I met two kittens Triscuit and Odilia, but I didn’t see any others. I understand that most cats aren’t very enthusiastic about traveling, so I was excited to meet the ones who did attend.,

Coco, Brighton, Disco and the Sphinxes were great fun, but unfortunately I didn’t get many pictures of them. Odilia’s foster mom, Connie from Tails From the Foster Kitties, didn’t want her to get overly excited because she is a special needs kitten, so I didn’t have very many opportunities to cuddle with her, but Triscuit was a excellent conference kitty, and she went practically everywhere with her foster mom Jeanne from Random Felines.

I have a lot of pictures of Triscuit since I got to kitten sit for her at dinner one night. She slept almost the entire conference except for when she smelled the turkey that was for dinner, and then she tried to catapult herself into her mom’s plate. Since I was finished with my food, I volunteered to hold her, and after convincing her that I didn’t have any more turkey, she fell asleep again.

In addition to the kitties, there were several ferrets and guinea pigs at BlogPaws. I met several of them, but I actually got pictures of Snotface. He’s a pretty cool ferret, and since I’ve never met many ferrets, I really enjoyed spending time with him. Many of the cat bloggers adopted the ferrets as part of our own group — after all they are poleCATS!

Maybe next year, one of my kitties will concede to go with me. Until then, I’ll share a few pictures of those who were there.

Coco is a pretty Cornish Rex who belongs to my new friend Teri of Curlz and Swirlz. Her furbrothers Brighton and Disco were also there, but I didn’t get any pictures of them. 😦 They all loved getting dressed up.

Snotface is an awesome ferret. He and his human Stephanie made quite the impression at BlogPaws!

Triscuit came to BlogPaws with her foster mom Jeanne from Random Felines. She was such a good kitten the entire time.

Even at dinner, Triscuit curled up and fell asleep — after she had a taste of turkey, of course.

Triscuit the kitten met Moshe Moshi a well-dressed Sphinx. She couldn’t figure out what happened to his fur.

Stryker has always had a compulsive relationship with food. He tried to eat a plate of lasagna when he was a kitten. He literally launched himself across the room at my plate. He also spent a summer stealing dog food and gained almost 7 pounds.

He’s still a big boy, but he’s pretty active, and he’s back on a healthier food regime. He outgrew his kitten asthma, and he doesn’t launch himself into plates. He has a strange affection for tomato/basil Wheat Thins, but that’s his primary vice now, and fortunately, we don’t have those around too often.

Since Stryker loves food, I was worried about the pet food recalls and treats made in China, so scoured the stores until I found something that sounded safe. We’re trying Waggers My Little Lion treats. That tuna and chicken are the prime ingredients makes this kitty mom happy, and it’s made in the U.S. by a Canadian company. I chose tuna flavor because I thought Snowbird might try them, but she still refuses to touch anything except dry kibble and canned tuna.

On the other hand, Stryker loves them! Here he is smiling and licking his lips after snack time.

Disclaimer: I purchased these treats myself for my pets. I received no payment or compensation for the endorsement of this product. I merely wanted to share information about a product that makes my pets happy.